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South Sudan president says military has foiled coup
South Sudan president says military has foiled coup
(about 4 hours later)
Soldiers loyal to a former vice-president attempted to overthrow the government of South Sudan, the country's president said Monday, as sporadic fighting between factions of the military gripped the capital in the latest violence to hit the world's youngest nation.
South Sudan's President Salva Kiir declared a curfew in the capital Juba on Monday after overnight clashes between rival factions of soldiers that he said were triggered by an "attempted coup".
Flanked by government officials, President Salva Kiir – who put on fatigues with an army general's epaulets – said in a televised address to the nation that the military had foiled a coup orchestrated by "a group of soldiers allied with the former vice-president". The soldiers had attacked the South Sudanese military headquarters near Juba University late on Sunday, sparking sporadic clashes that continued Monday, he said.
Kiir blamed soldiers loyal to Riek Machar, who he dismissed as vice-president in July, for starting the fighting in the capital that extended into Monday morning before easing.
"The attackers went and [the] armed forces are pursuing them," Kiir said on Monday. "I promise you today that justice will prevail."
The two men are from different ethnic groups which have clashed in the past. Machar has said he wants to run for president.
The government is now "in full control of the military situation" in Juba, he said, ordering a dawn-to-dusk curfew in the city.
Flanked by ministers and wearing combat fatigues rather than his usual civilian clothes, Kiir declared a curfew running from 6pm to 6am each night, effective from Monday.
Details of the attempted coup remained sketchy, but South Sudanese foreign minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said that troops within the main army base raided the weapons store in Juba but were repulsed. Some politicians had since been arrested, he said, but could not confirm if former vice-president Riek Machar, who he said led the attempted coup, was among those in detention. Benjamin said the coup was plotted by "disgruntled" soldiers and politicians led by Machar.
Kiir said the fighting broke out after an unidentified person fired shots in the air near a ruling party conference.
Heavily armed soldiers patrolled the streets of Juba on Monday amid the gunfire emerging from the city's main army barracks. The streets were largely empty of civilians, with most Juba residents staying indoors. EgyptAir reported that it had cancelled its flight to Juba on Monday, saying the airport there was closed.
"This was followed later by an attack at the SPLA (South Sudan army) headquarters near Juba University by a group of soldiers allied to the former vice-president Dr Riek Machar and his group. These attacks continued until this morning," he said.
The United Nations mission in South Sudan on Monday reported the sound of mortar and heavy machine-gun fire, saying hundreds of civilians had sought refuge inside UN facilities.
"However, I would like to inform you, at the outset, that your government is in full control of the security situation in Juba."
Tension had been mounting in South Sudan since Kiir fired Machar as his deputy in July. Machar, who has expressed a willingness to contest the presidency in 2015, said after he was fired that if the country is to be united it cannot tolerate a "one man's rule or it cannot tolerate dictatorship". His ousting, part of a wider dismissal of the entire cabinet by Kiir, had followed reports of a power struggle within the ruling party. At the time, the United States and the European Union urged calm amid fears the dismissals could spark political upheaval in the country.
Gunfire and blasts were heard through the night around the city, intensifying on Monday morning. Fighting mostly subsided by midday, with witnesses reporting sporadic gunfire in some areas and a heavy military presence in the city.
While Kiir is leader of the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement party, many of the dismissed ministers, including Machar, were key figures in the rebel movement that fought a decades-long war against Sudan that led to South Sudan's independence in 2011. Machar, a deputy chairman of the ruling party, is one of the country's most influential politicians.
At least 10,000 civilians took refuge in UN compounds in the capital, said one UN official who asked not to be named. Women and children were among the thousands taking shelter, said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The local Sudan Tribune newspaper reported on its website that military clashes erupted late on Sunday between members of the presidential guard in fighting that seemed to pit soldiers from Kiir's Dinka tribe against those from the Nuer tribe of Machar.
The U. Embassy in Juba said on its Twitter account that mobile phone networks were off in the capital.
In a message to American citizens Monday, the US embassy in Juba said it had received "reports from multiple reliable sources of ongoing security incidents and sporadic gunfire in multiple locations" across Juba.
Kenyan airlines Fly540 and Kenya Airways suspended flights indefinitely to Juba after the airport closed.
"The US embassy has not been able to confirm that gunfire and insecurity have fully ceased," the message said. "The embassy recommends that all US citizens exercise extra caution at all times. The US embassy will continue to closely monitor the security environment in South Sudan, with particular attention to Juba city and its immediate surroundings, and will advise US citizens further if the security situation changes."
The government has struggled to establish a functioning state since declaring independence from Sudan in 2011 to become Africa's newest nation.
Hilde Johnson, special representative of the United Nations secretary-general for South Sudan, said in a statement that the UN mission in Juba was "deeply concerned" over the fighting that broke out late on Sunday and which continued on Monday.
Kiir dismissed Machar after mounting public criticism at the government's failure to deliver better public services in the oil-producing nation, which is the size of France but barely has any tarmac roads.
"As the special representative of the secretary general I urge all parties in the fighting to cease hostilities immediately and exercise restraint," the statement sad. "I have been in touch regularly with the key leaders, including at the highest levels to call for calm."
Speaking by phone earlier in the day, a UN spokesman said seven people had been treated for gunshot wounds, including a two-year-old boy.
South Sudan has experienced bouts of ethnic violence, especially in rural Jonglei state, since the country peacefully broke away from Sudan after a brutal civil war.
A Reuters reporter saw one man with blood all over his legs being carried by civilians along the largely deserted streets in the direction of the hospital.
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Clashes were concentrated at two military bases, the Bilpam barracks north of the airport and the Jebel barracks south of Juba, where the presidential guard is based, residents said.
The fighting is the latest setback for one of Africa's poorest states. Oil production, South Sudan's main source of revenue, was shut down for 15 months until April because of a row with Sudan, which hosts the main export oil pipeline.
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